Women's Volleyball Weekly Release - Week 7

Penn's Dani Shepherd and Yale's Kelly Johnson

Photos courtesy of Penn Athletic Communications and Yale Sports Publicity

PRINCETON, N.J. -- Ivy League women's volleyball reaches the midway point of the conference slate this week as all eight squads will have seven Ivy matches completed with seven to go by the end of the weekend.

Yale and Princeton, both 5-0 in League play, clash Friday night in New Haven, Conn., to see which team can potentially take a one-game lead into the second half of the conference schedule. The next evening, the Bulldogs face a streaking Penn team lurking just behind at 3-2 in Ivy play and coming in fresh off a weekend sweep of Columbia and Cornell. The Tigers are on a streak of their own, entering the week winners of their last five in a row. Following its first-place matchup with Yake, Princeton takes on Brown (1-4 in Ivy play) Saturday evening in Providence, R.I.

Key middle-of-the-pack matches are also on tap for the weekend with Columbia (2-3 in Ivy play hosting Dartmouth (1-4 in Ivy play) Friday night and Harvard (2-3 in Ivy play). 

Only one non-League contest on the mid-week schedule this week as Cornell plays host to Binghamton Tuesday night.

Ivy League in the NCAA Statistics
The Ivy League is among the NCAA Division I leaders in several individual and team statistical categories through matches of Oct. 7.

Penn junior libero Dani Shepherd continues to lead NCAA Division I in digs per set at 6.63. She is now in stiking distance of challenging the all-time, single-single mark of 6.87 set last season by Villanova's Kim Maroon. The Quakers are also still in the top spot in the same category at 21.25 per game. Yale sits right behind Penn in second at 19.73 digs per set. The Bulldogs are also in the top 10 in kills (4th, 14.83) and assists (6th, 13.81) per set. Columbia moved into the top 20 in blocks per set in 18th, averaging 2.86 per set.

Cornell junior outside hitter Kelly Marble remains among the leaders in aces per set, ranked 14th at 0.48. Her Big Red is still among the top 20 teams nationally in the category ranked 16th at 1.63 per set. Princeton senior outside hitter Lydia Rudnick moves up the national lists as well, placing 27th in kills (4.25) and 32nd in points (4.78) per set.

Click here for the complete NCAA statistics.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Penn junior libero Dani Shepherd (Los Angeles) led the Quakers' defense with 51 digs in a pair of sweeps over Cornell and Columbia. She upped her digs total to 6.63 per set on the year to extend her lead in pacing all of Division I in that category.

Shepherd came up with 25 digs in the win over Cornell, 21 of which came in the final two sets which the Quakers were able to pull out by scores of 27-25 and 25-23. Against Columbia, She had 13 of her 26 digs in the first set alone, setting the tone for the Quakers in a crucial three-set win.

Shepherd receives her first Player of the Week honor and the first for Penn since Julia Swanson won the award on Nov. 18, 2010.

Shepherd's Weekly Stats
8.50 D/S, 0.83 A/S, 1 SA

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Yale freshman setter Kelly Johnson (Palos Verdes, Calif.) dished out 44 assists, hit .405 and produced 22 kills in key road wins at Dartmouth and Harvard. She just missed triple-doubles in both matches and led in key statistical categories both nights.

In the Dartmouth match, Johnson posted a match-high 24 assists in 3-1 victory over the Big Green. The next evening at Harvard, she struck for a match-best 13 kills without committing an error in 18 swings for a blistering .722 hitting percentage. Johnson also added 20 assists and nine digs in the 3-0 win over the Crimson. Johnson also provided timely points, giving Yale a 15-14 lead to spark a first-set victory and capped a 10-2 run in an eight-point comeback in the second.

Johnson is selected for her second Rookie of the Week honor this season after sharing the award with Columbia's Atlanta Moye-McLaren on Sept. 18.

Johnson's Weekly Stats
.405 hitting pct., 3.14 K/S, 6.29 A/S, 2.71 D/S, 3 BA

HONOR ROLL
Kathryn Conner, Brown (So., L - Newport Beach, Calif.)
6.50 D/S, 0.90 A/S

Erin Cooney, Harvard (Jr., RS - Bloomfield Hills, Mich.)
.312 hitting pct., 2.50 K/S, 4 BA

Maddie Lord, Brown (So., OH - La Jolla, Calif.)
.200 hitting pct., 3.80 K/S, 1.00 D/S, 2 BA

Haley Wessels, Yale (Sr., MB - Dallas)
.459 hitting pct., 2.71 K/S, 1 BS, 9 BA

Ginny Willis, Princeton (So., S - Tampa, Fla.)
11.12 A/S, 2.00 D/S, 1 SA, 5 BA

Breanna Wong, Cornell (Fr., S - Highlands Ranch, Colo.)
.244 hitting pct., 2.57 K/S, 8 BA


UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Tuesday, October 9
Binghamton at Cornell, 7 pm

Friday, October 12
Penn at Brown, 7 pm
Harvard at Cornell, 7 pm
Princeton at Yale, 7 pm
Dartmouth at Columbia, 8 pm

Saturday, October 13
Princeton at Brown, 4 pm
Dartmouth at Cornell, 5 pm
Penn at Yale, 5 pm
Harvard at Columbia, 5 pm

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
September 4 - Kendall Polan, Yale (Jr., S)
September 11 - Haley Wessels, Yale (Sr., MB)
September 18 - Atlanta Moye-McLaren, Columbia (Fr., OH)
September 25 - Kendall Polan, Yale (Jr., S)
October 2 - Lydia Rudnick, Princeton (Sr., OH)
October 9 - Dani Shepherd, Penn (Jr., L)
October 16 -
October 23 -
October 30 -
November 6 -
November 13 -

ROOKIES OF THE WEEK
September 4 - Ronnie Bither, Penn (Fr., S)
September 11 - Ronnie Bither, Penn (Fr., S)
September 18 - Atlanta Moye-McLaren, Columbia (Fr., OH) & Kelly Johnson, Yale (Fr., S)
September 25 - Alex Caldwell, Penn (Fr., RS)
October 2 - Alex Caldwell, Penn (Fr., RS)
October 9 - Kelly Johnson, Yale (Fr., S)
October 16 -
October 23 -
October 30 -
November 6 -
November 13 -

HONOR ROLLS
September 4 - Caitlin Brenton, Columbia (So., OH), Taylor Docter, Harvard (Sr., OH),Kelly Johnson, Yale (Fr., S), Nicole Kincade, Princeton (So. MB), Alexandra Rieckhoff, Brown (Jr., S), Elisa Scudder, Dartmouth (Jr., MB), Emma White, Penn (So., OH)